In an address delivered at the 68th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., conservative author Arthur Brooks encouraged biblical love amid a nationwide “crisis of contempt and polarization,” reminding attendees that Jesus ordered His followers to love — and not just tolerate — their enemies.
Opening his speech, Brooks, a professor of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and senior fellow at the Harvard Business School, described himself as a “follower of Jesus.”
“[The same Jesus] who taught us to love God and taught us to love each other,” he added. “Today, I’m here to talk to you about the biggest crisis facing our nation and many other nations today: It’s the crisis of contempt and polarization that’s tearing our societies apart.”
“In this crisis resides the greatest opportunity we have ever had as people of faith to lift our nations up and to bring our people together,” Brooks declared.
When it comes to an “old” problem like contempt and polarization, It’s important to “think differently” to achieve a new and effective solution, he said.
The author of 11 books turned to the words of Jesus, society’s “greatest entrepreneur” and thinker, from Matthew 5: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Such words are as “subversive and counterintuitive” today as they were 2,000 years ago, Brooks said.
SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett
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